Projects and Products to Make the World a Happier Place. Jennifer Heynen designs sewing patterns, craft kits, quilting fabric, licenses her art to companies for Garden Flags, Bags, Accessories and more all in a Happy and Bright Style.

Wednesday, October 30, 2013

This weeks holiday projects is this little ball ornaments tutorial. The ball is made from 12 pentagons sewn together. This makes this pattern really easy to adjust to any size you would like. The pattern pieces below are are all ready for you to print in the size of the ornament, which is a 4 inch ball. The snowflake embellishments are included as well in the printable pieces.

While I was sewing up my ornament, I decided to make my nephew a larger ball for rolling on the floor. I have included the larger pentagon for this in the printable pattern pieces as well. The play ball measures approximately 8 inches in diameter.

Once you sew up one, you will want to make more. Here's the how-to....

Supplies:

Fabric scraps( size and amount depends on what size ball)
Fiberfill
Needle and Thread or Sewing Machine
2 colors of felt 3" x 3" For Ornament only
Ribbon measuring approximately 24" For Ornament only
1 small ceramic button 3/4" For Ornament only

Instructions:

1. Cut 12 pentagons using the Pattern Pieces. A 1/4 inch seam allowance is built in to the piece.
Basically, all of the pieces will be sewn together to create the ball. So it doesn't get confusing sewing all of the pentagons together I think it's easiest to sew the two halves of the ball separate and then join the two middles together. Also, I find these almost just as easy to hand stitch if you're looking for a project to take on the go.

2. Choose one pentagon to sew five of the other pentagons edges to with right sides facing together.

3. Once the five seams are sewn, go back and sew the right sides together of the five pentagons together as shown below.

4. You now have one half of your ball sewn. Set this one aside and sew the second half of the ball following steps 2. and 3. again.

5. Now it is time to join the two halves together. They will fit together in a zig zag pattern. There's a black and white drawing below to help you see the pattern. Pin the right sides together all of the way around the ball to make sure you have it joined correctly. Once you do, sew the edges together, leaving a couple a section open for turning and stuffing.

6. Clip and corners and loose threads. Turn the ball so that it is right sides out and fill with fiberfill.

Hand sew the opening closed.

7. For the ornament version of the ball, cut the ribbon in half. Tie a bow with one half of the ribbon and the other half will be folded to make the ornament hanging loop. Tack stitch these onto the sewn ball along with the felt flakes and button.

Sunday, October 27, 2013

I sent out my Holiday Projects newsletter this past week and the turkey pendants were a hit. I'm going to make one more batch of them next week so I am taking orders for them now. If you would like one send me an e-mail at jennifer (at) jangles.net and let me know what you would like. I'll start making them Nov. 1st. You get two matching round ceramic beads with them and they are 14.00.

2. Take two strips and place the right sides together of two of the short ends. Sew these together. Continue to sew all of the strips of fabric together until you have approximately a 3 yard strip of fabric. Trim any loose threads.

3. With your machine or needle and thread, sew the pom pom trim down fabric.

4.Start at the bottom of the cone and using a straight pin, secure the end of the fabric into the cone. Start wrapping the cone gradually moving up it.

5. When you reach the top of the cone, trim any excess fabric strip off, leaving approximately and inch to turn over. Turn over the raw edge and pin it to secure.

6. Take the long floral pin and thread the ceramic star on to it. Push the in into the top of the star.

Tuesday, October 22, 2013

Hey Hey, My new patterns have just arrived! They are in the Etsy shop as well as the Jennifer Jangles web store. There are four in total but you might have seen one or two of them before. My pattern up there, is a pattern for quilted bags that you can make in six different sizes. When I designed it I was thinking it would be really cool to make the weekender bag(the largest) and fill it with matching smaller bags for cosmetics and other travel essentials. Wouldn't that make a great gift for your mom, sister, grand daughter?

My boys are going to get the weekender in a fun kid print for sure. I will be sewing lots of these for holiday gifts....hope my family isn't reading my blog right now. :)

Next pattern up is my Sew Happy Stuffed Sewing Machine. This pattern until now, has only been available in PDF form. It's been so popular that I decided to print it as well so Quilt Stores can carry it as well. The machine measures 12" x 12" and makes a great toy or sewing room decoration. Wouldn't it be fun to put someones name on the machine in that little box?

This is my newest applique pattern. It comes in three sizes so you can make a wall hanging, table runner, or bed runner, in the perfect size. This one on the cover is a brighter version. I have pans to make an all gray, black, and white one for my bed.

And last is my Okey Dokey Owl and Friends Applique Quilt. I know you have probably seen this one but it was sold out and now it is back. I always love it when I get to re print a pattern because of it's popularity.

I know in my post title I said free fabric....that's right. For this week (Oct. 22-29) I will be sending a free fat quarter with any retail paper(not PDF) pattern purchase. That means if you buy four patterns, you will receive four fat quarters! Yikes, I might be cutting a lot f fabric this week. Fat quarters are random, I get to choose and that's to save my sanity. They will be from all of my lines including the two newest It's Christmas! and Not So Spooky Halloween.

And quilt store owners that are reading my post...these babies are available for order from me, you can send me an e-mail and I'll get them out today.

Saturday, October 12, 2013

This little guy was made with my Lil' Okey Sewing Pattern. After sewing him following the instructions, I decided he needed to hang on my door.

You'll need:

1 twig approximately12"

2 4" x 4" pieces of yellow fabric

1 piece of fleece the same size

18 gauge black wire

Instructions:

First cut a piece of wire 90" long. Fold in half and wrap each end around an end of the branch. Shape the wire to make a half circle shape. Set aside. Sandwich the batting between the two pieces of fabric. With black thread sew a star shape onto the fabric just as you would draw one. If you choose, go over it a couple of times. Go back and trim a 1/4" outside the sewn line to create your star. Sew the bottom of the owl onto the twig by bringing the thread all the way around the branch and through his bottom. Repeat this until he is secure. Tack his wing to the side wire as well for extra security. Tack the star in place on the top of the wire loop.

Thursday, October 10, 2013

For no other reason than I am a little bit crazy, I made these little holiday paper dolls. It all started when I was coming up with my Holiday Projects header. These paintings are taken from my It's Christmas! line of fabric, I started changing them a bit to make the theme a little more crafty. I added a sewing machine and some beads. In my head I started calling him crafty elf, once again don't ask, I work alone and I have to entertain myself somehow.

Crafty elf and his reindeer friend come on a postcard like this...

There are instructions on the back on how to assemble the whole village. I have mine on my desk. Starting yesterday, anyone who places an order will get one of these postcards in their package, just for fun. Oh and I guess I should say until supplies run out.

On to other Holiday Project business...

Made with Jennifer Jangles is the our new Flickr Group! I say our because I want everyone to post pictures of anything you made with beads, buttons, fabric, patterns, etc. Show and tell is always so fun, this is the virtual Jennifer Jangles show and tell. I started by adding some of my work so it wouldn't be so empty, but please head over and add your photos, anyone can join the fun.

I want to say it was a wonderful kick off to the projects yesterday. I was surprised at how many of you mentioned that you were inspired to start crafting for the holidays. Woot woot! That's what I am hoping to inspire you to do. The first letter always seems to arrive so early, but really, it's mid October.

Wednesday, October 9, 2013

Let me tell you had much fun I had making these. I seriously want to start up a scarf making business, hit the road and do shows selling them. I had to reel it back in because I might have too much going on to fit that in, but let's just say I was excited. These are FUN to make!

The scarf body is knit, so it's super soft around your neck. Then it's time to clean out those scrap bins, anything goes with these scarves.

The scarves have been so popular that they are now available as kits. The kit comes with the pattern as well as the knit, trims, tulle, and felt. You just need to add scraps. Each scarf is unique, how fun is that?

When I need to cut a bunch of fabric that needs to be all of the same size. I mark my ruler or my cutting mat with Washi Tape. As you can see in the picture, it's super easy to see the line where I need to place my fabric for my 1.5" mark.

Here are all 100 of my squares.

To make the front and back pieces of the wristlet, you need two patchwork pieces that are 5.5" x 9.5". It's basically like making two tiny quilt tops where the finished squares are 1" x 1". I like to arrange my squares first, but you could totally wing it and see what fabrics end up next to each other.

Start by sewing two pieces together with right sides facing. Make 72 sets of these. Cut them apart, press open, and sew two sets of two together. Next, sew a single square to the strip of four blocks. At this point you should have 18 fabric strips, each containing five fabric squares.

Sew nine strips together to make a rectangle that is five squares by nine squares. Repeat this for the second panel of patchwork.

Cut two 5.5" x 9.5" rectangles from the lining fabric. Cut two 12" x 2.5" strips for the handle.

With right sides together stitch down the two long sides of the handle pieces. Turn right side out and press flat. Top stitch down each side. I twisted my handle on one side so the the lining and the outer fabric met up. Pin the raw edges together and set aside.

Now instead of repeating a zipper pouch tutorial, you can go here to my Easy Zipper Pouch instructions and follow along to assemble your wristlet. There are photos for every step of the way.

And for the flower pin on the wristlet. Use some more of your scraps to make these, using my free PDF pattern here.

Book: Sew Small

BOOK: Stitch Kitsch

BOOK: Extraordinary Colors

BOOK: Ceramic Bead Jewelry

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Jennifer Jangles uses affiliate programs from time to time for income. These are links that lead to Amazon, Craftsy, and others. This helps me be able to bring you free projects. I never link to anything that I don't personally use or recommend, you can be sure of that. I take this very seriously. As always, please contact me if you have questions.